Chapter 16 Challenges in Developing Sustainable Tourism Post COVID-19 Pandemic

The outbreak of COVID-19 has brought the global tourism to a standstill. Being a labor-intensive industry, tourism is the worst affected sector. Since the last few years, the concept of sustainability has become an integral part of planning and developing any destination. Through its strong multiplier effect, it supports a wide variety of jobs for every strata of society. Hence, without tourism the innumerable suppliers of goods and services to the industry would unable to sustain their business and livelihood. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a 22% fall in international tourist arrivals during the first quarter of 2020 and could lead to an annual decline of between 60% and 80% ( UNWTO Report, May 2020 ). The purpose of the study is to understand the impact of the pandemic on key components of tourism and to determine the major challenging aspects in developing sustainable tourism post COVID-19. The chapter is based on qualitative research and a convenience sample was used for this study. To make the study more worthwhile data triangulation was used. The limitations of the study are confined to the city of Varanasi, India, workforce working in the tourism and allied sectors. The verdict of the chapter is to perceive how COVID-19 has adversely affected the tourism workforce. Also, to solve the challenges how there is a need to be decisive while planning sustainable tourism development and emphasize local people, the environment, and small-scale tourism businesses to make their survival possible post COVID-19.